The Texas Panhandle region consists of the 26 million-acre
Rolling Plains, which stretch from southwestern Oklahoma south to the
Edwards Plateau in central Texas, and the 19 million-acre Texas portion
of the High Plains, which extend from the Caprock Escarpment, the western
edge of the Rolling Plains, northward well into the Midwestern portion
of the United States.

This area receives from 13 to 28 inches of rain, and is dominated by mid
and shortgrasses, interspersed with junipers, mesquite and dwarf oak shrubs,
and broken by cottonwoods, pecans and walnuts in the river bottoms and
breaks. Some 25,000 playas dot the region as well, and form key watering
areas for migrating cranes, geese, and ducks. This area is largely agricultural,
marked by some of Texas' most famous ranches (the Lambshead, XIT and JA),
largest cattle and hog feeding operations, and most extensive cotton and
wheat farms. The major cities of the region are Dalhart, Amarillo, and
Lubbock.

Conservation issues in the region include the agricultural pumpage and
decline of the fossil Ogallala aquifer, which is currently dropping at
1.7 feet per year in the North Plains Groundwater District, but stabilizing
in some areas due to conversion to dryland cropping and livestock raising.
Concerns have also been raised about the extensive use of pesticides in
the area's cotton fields, although Integrated Pest Management techniques
have dropped application rates since the 1960s, and the Plains area now
hosts some 90% of American organic cotton production. Worry over declines
and pesticide contamination of the Ogallala were exacerbated by ultimately unsuccessful
proposals in the 1980s to site a high-level nuclear waste disposal facility
in Swisher County. Other industrial issues in the region involve
worker
chemical exposure and groundwater contamination at the Pantex weapons
plant near Amarillo, and the rise of confined animal feeding operations
near Perryton in recent years.